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Quote:
Originally Posted by rnln View Post
My home network is setting up as from cable modem to switch. From switch, it splits to a rounter and a laptop. The PC is plugged into the rounter. The laptop is pluged directly into the switch.
Can you see anything wrong with this? It was ok when I had DSL, but now with cable, the laptop is very slow.
Hmm, is there a reason that you have a mix of equipment like that?

You have the cable modem which commonly acts as a router as well. Is it just a modem or does it have multiple ethernet jacks in back?

Is the "switch" a true switch or is it a hub?

Same question with the router the laptop is plugged into, is it a true router or a hub?

Hubs are pretty stupid devices, they pass network traffic to all available ports so in a busy network they will be a bottle neck. For a 2 device home network it's not an issue unless you need to keep the traffic separated for security reasons.

Switches are smarter, they know traffic from device A belongs to device A and will always route it that way which maintains max thru put in busy networks. Again for 2 devices not much of an advantage.

Routers are the smartest of the bunch, they provide firewall, DHCP and proxy services to the networked devices. But firewall and proxy services can affect thru put. But not likely you'd see that in such a small environment.

If it were me I'd run some speed tests the way you are set up now, then eliminate the router and plug the laptop into the switch, run sped tests, then swap the switch for router 2, run tests, also if your cable modem has multiple ethernet out jacks plug the PC and Laptop directly into that and run speed tests.

My gut tells me the 2nd router is the issue. It may be providing default services in conflict with the cable modem/router.
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Last edited by stomachmonkey; 11-15-2011 at 11:29 AM..
Old 11-15-2011, 11:26 AM
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